4 Month Old Springer Spaniel and Potty Training

by Nicole & Emmanuel
(Virginia, USA)

Usually such a good girl!

Hi,

Our 4 month old female Springer (Gaia) has started a new behaviour that we certainly need to fix and quickly. 3 weeks ago she tinkled on our living room carpet, chew toy in mouth staring right at me. The second and I think worst behaviour occured this morning, she jumped on our bed and we do not allow her on the bed, she peed on the bed, staring right at us.

We reprimand her by saying NO and bad dog, then putting her outside.

Is this a dominance and/or territorial behaviour? If so, what do you recommend we do to stop this before it occurs again.

She is pretty much potty trained otherwise as she barks to let us know when she needs to go out.

Comments for 4 Month Old Springer Spaniel and Potty Training

My 4 1/2 mth pup wees in the house sometimes, much less now as have realised that I need to take her out every 10-20 mins. She comes & stares & pees, but I dont believe its dominance & shant have her spayed for this behaviour, as she was probably trying to tell me she needed the loo & they cant hold their bladders until approx 6 mths old.

She doesnt scratch at door or whine for a wee, so we rely on watching her & as soon as she comes near us & looks at us we take her out just to be on the safe side.

They pee when excited too, so if she had been playing she ideally shoudl be placed outside in toilet area straight afterwards.

A few things to avoid are the so called clapping loudly or making a noise to distract them while you get them oustide, this made her 100 time sworse as she did submissive weeing then as was scared of me!!

Dont reprimand them when the wee inside either, make no big deal outve it, remove them from room, clean it up without them seeing as they can sense your stress, & certainly dont get cross with your pup/dog.

White Wine Vinegar is fab as they tend not to wee in same place if you dab some of this on teh area, only clean with cold water 1st,nothing with amonia as will draw them to same area to widdle.

Good Luck

Sep 13, 2011Rating

Peeing in the houseby: Anonymous

The advisce we were given was to get our spaniel neutred and that it would probably stop! we haven't as yet but seriously getting near to making the appointment!

Sep 09, 2011Rating

Always something!by: Anonymous

I like the advice re UTI possiblility but also think it could be her teenager hood peaking through. If she is not already in obedience training I would get there asap. Our puppy has his moments but with positive rewards he goes in the right places. He does bark and challenge, but my husband is more serious about setting limits. I am too soft and think a lot of his hijinks are funny. But these are hunters and pack behavior is key so I need to shape up fast! Our trainer is brilliant and thinks our dog is too... he patiently expects us to catch up to their level any day now. We use clicker training a lot and find it helpful to bridge our intentions to reward the commands and responses - the dog waits patiently for the reward while we fumble and bumble. Life with springers! Best wishes! Merlin's mummy.

Sep 05, 2011Rating

Tinklingby: Michele

Have you taken her to the Vet? Sometimes things we think might be behavioral are actually medical.

My younger Springer started doing the same thing at 10 month. For a few weeks I just thought she was acting out as everything else about her was normal. Finally, I decided to take her to the Vet and as it turned out, she had a urinary tract infection. She's almost 4 years old now and she gets at least one every year.